Usefulness of Semi-quantitative Procalcitonin Assay in Critically Ill Patients with Bacterial Pneumonia / 감염과화학요법

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: In pulmonary infection, serum procalcitonin levels increase rapidly, probably in response to sepsis-related cytokine release from neuroendocrine cells of bronchial epithelium and inflammatory cells. We applied procalcitonin assay in critically ill patients with bacterial pneumonia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and show diffuse infiltrations in their chest X-ray were included. Quantitative bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) culture (> or =10(4) CFU/mL) was performed in all cases on the 5th day of ICU admission. We excluded patients with structural lung disease, non-infectious lung infiltrations, and atypical infections such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Pneumocystis jiroveci, and viruses. Serum procalcitonin levels were measured semi-quantitatively by using PCT-Q kit. RESULTS: A total of 28 adult patients (MF=235) were included 11 (39.3%) medically-ill patients, 7 (25%) surgically-ill patients, and 10 (35.7%) burn patients. Serum procalcitonin level was or =0.5 ng/mL in the remaining half of the cases. Compared to those with serum procalcitonin level of or =0.5 ng/mL had more frequent mechanical ventilation, higher CRP/APACHE II scores/number of organ failure (P or =0.5 ng/mL. CONCLUSIONS: High serum procalcitonin level seems to be closely associated with the severity and poor prognosis in critically ill patients with bacterial pneumonia. However, pneumonia could not be excluded with low level of procalcitonin among ICU patients.